Jer 46:1-52:34, The spirit of Babylon is the spirit of rebellion against the rule of God st title

• Chapters 46 through 49 detailed God's judgment against the nations surrounding Israel: Egypt, Philistines, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, various Arab tribes, and Elam
• Chapters 50-51 concern Babylon herself and chapter 52 describes the lasts days of Judah and her kings


Jer 50:1-3 (NIV) This is the word the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians:


2 "Announce and proclaim among the nations,
lift up a banner and proclaim it;
keep nothing back, but say,
'Babylon will be captured;
Bel will be put to shame,
Marduk filled with terror.
Her images will be put to shame
and her idols filled with terror.'
3 A nation from the north will attack her
and lay waste her land.
No one will live in it;
both men and animals will flee away.


• Who are the gods Bel and Marduk?
• Bel is the storm god, and equivalent to Baal
• Marduk is the creator god and chief deity
• Who is the nation from the north?
• This is an area of some disagreement.  Babylon is attacked by the Medes from the east and later the Greeks from the west.  The route may come from the north, as in Israel's case, but there are other parts of this prophecy that argue that this is not what God was referring to …
• What will become of the city?
• It will never be inhabited again.  This has never happened and yet it is constantly repeated throughout Jeremiah's prophecy
• Revelation shows us that Babylon represents the end time power that crushes the earth.  Putting together Revelation and Jeremiah's prophecies leads us to believe that these prophecies are still in the future


Jer 50:4-7 (NIV) "In those days, at that time,"
declares the Lord,
"the people of Israel and the people of Judah together
will go in tears to seek the Lord their God.
5 They will ask the way to Zion
and turn their faces toward it.
They will come and bind themselves to the Lord
in an everlasting covenant
that will not be forgotten.


6 "My people have been lost sheep;
their shepherds have led them astray
and caused them to roam on the mountains.
They wandered over mountain and hill
and forgot their own resting place.
7 Whoever found them devoured them;
their enemies said, 'We are not guilty,
for they sinned against the Lord, their true pasture,
the Lord, the hope of their fathers.'


• The phrase "in those days" is often used for what?
• It is a reference to the end times, although it obviously could be used in the literal sense
• The problem is that verse 5 refers to something that has not happen yet
• The people have not yet, as a nation, bound themselves in an everlasting covenant.  The old covenant, the mosaic covenant, was temporary.  The unconditional covenants are God's promises to the people and to certain people.  The people have only bound themselves to the Mosaic covenant
• Verses 6 and 7 describe Israel/Judah's problem, what is it?
• They are lost sheep
• Isa 53:6 (NIV) We all, like sheep, have gone astray, // each of us has turned to his own way; // and the Lord has laid on him // the iniquity of us all.
• This week I read a comment by a Jew who tried to argue that the passage referred not to Jesus but to the nation because of verse 10
• Isa 53:10 (NIV) Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, // and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, // he will see his offspring and prolong his days, // and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
• He argued that since Jesus did not have offspring, he could not be the subject of the passage.  Interestingly, Paul, a trained Rabbi living at the time, saw offspring as spiritual as well as physical
• 1 Cor 4:14-15 (NIV) I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. 15 Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
• The spiritual leaders, the shepherds, have led them astray
• In Matt 12, it is the religious leaders, the shepherds who reject Jesus as the Messiah
• In the trial before Pilate, the people at the urging of the leaders again reject Jesus as the Messiah


Jer 50:18-20 (NIV) 18 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:


"I will punish the king of Babylon and his land
as I punished the king of Assyria.
19 But I will bring Israel back to his own pasture
and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan;
his appetite will be satisfied
on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.
20 In those days, at that time,"
declares the Lord,
"search will be made for Israel's guilt,
but there will be none,
and for the sins of Judah,
but none will be found,
for I will forgive the remnant I spare.


• This passage also appears messianic, why?
• Because their sins are no more, they are gone, can't be found
• Hebrews tells us that the sacrifices only cover the guilt of sin, only Jesus' blood can remove sin completely


Jer 50:29-32 (NIV) "Summon archers against Babylon,
all those who draw the bow.
Encamp all around her;
let no one escape.
Repay her for her deeds;
do to her as she has done.
For she has defied the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore, her young men will fall in the streets;
all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,"
 declares the Lord.
31 "See, I am against you, O arrogant one,"
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty,
"for your day has come,
the time for you to be punished.
32 The arrogant one will stumble and fall
and no one will help her up;
I will kindle a fire in her towns
that will consume all who are around her."


• Assuming then that Babylon is Revelation's Babylon, there are two aspects of her character described here, what are they?
• She defies God.  This is willful disobedience to God.  Even more so, it refuses to acknowledge God's right to rule, or to be worship
• She is arrogant.  She believes she is the best ruler of her destiny.  She does not need God and in fact, believes she is better than God
• Many today defy God and in their foolishness spout arrogant words.  It is a fact that God will judge their sin some day soon.  Everything in our society points to greater degrees of lawlessness.  Flash mobs (recent internet stories), men of this age pretending to be Baptist pastors to support abortion and homosexuality, ….  Why do people do these things?  Because people do not believe in absolutes.  We have become like animals


Jer 50:35-40 (NIV) "A sword against the Babylonians!"
declares the Lord —
"against those who live in Babylon
and against her officials and wise men!
36 A sword against her false prophets!
They will become fools.
A sword against her warriors!
They will be filled with terror.
37 A sword against her horses and chariots
and all the foreigners in her ranks!
They will become women.
A sword against her treasures!
They will be plundered.
38 A drought on her waters!
They will dry up.
For it is a land of idols,
idols that will go mad with terror.


39 "So desert creatures and hyenas will live there,
and there the owl will dwell.
It will never again be inhabited
or lived in from generation to generation.
40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
along with their neighboring towns,"
 declares the Lord,
"so no one will live there;
no man will dwell in it.


• This is the part that has not been fulfilled yet and why many believe this prophecy is future oriented
• Also, as evidenced by the influence of people like Daniel and the testimony of Nebuzaradan, Babylon at this time was more godly than Israel
• But Babylon and the ferocity of its destruction is the picture the scriptures use of the one world government of the antichrist that is coming


Jer 51:6-9 (NIV) "Flee from Babylon!
Run for your lives!
Do not be destroyed because of her sins.
It is time for the Lord's vengeance;
he will pay her what she deserves.
7 Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord's hand;
she made the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine;
therefore they have now gone mad.
8 Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken.
Wail over her!
Get balm for her pain;
perhaps she can be healed.


9 "'We would have healed Babylon,
but she cannot be healed;
let us leave her and each go to his own land,
for her judgment reaches to the skies,
it rises as high as the clouds.'


• This passage is really a warning to us.  Babylon represents a lot of things, a world government, a world religion, but I think it mostly represents a philosophy
• It is a philosophy that exalts man as his own god and the determiner of his actions
• It is a philosophy that rejects God's wisdom as revealed in the bible
• It is a philosophy that rejects God's definition of sin
• It is a philosophy that rejects God's existence (atheistic)
• We have a warning …
• Run from it
• Don't be destroyed because you engaged in her sins
• Don't drink thewine (or the kool-aid depending on your metaphor)


Jer 51:44 (NIV) I will punish Bel in Babylon
and make him spew out what he has swallowed.
The nations will no longer stream to him.
And the wall of Babylon will fall.


• Bel is really Satan, much as every single deity is a rejection of God, so we agree with Satan
• Satan wants to take our affection off of God
• God wants those who worship in spirit and truth
• Satan will even use Christian religion to get people's eyes off of the real God.  I believe that after the rapture, there will be attendees of Christian churches wondering where most of the people are, and some churches will not see any noticeable difference in attendance